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Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) wants to fail fast to succeed sooner, Panos Panay tells CNN Money in an interview where he also discussed what he and the company learned from the first generation of the Surface tablet devices which failed to gain better traction.

Panay, a Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) corporate vice president who is credited as one of the key persons in the development of the Surface line of tablets, made the remarks as part CNN’s tour of the company’s advanced hardware development facility in Redmond, Washington.

“Right now this company is changing. We want to fail fast and we want to succeed sooner. Those two things go hand in hand. And if you fail, this company is amazing. They will support you. You just have to learn from it,” Panay says.

And fail Panay did with the initial batch of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Surface tablets. Not that they were not designed well, as evidenced by how much time and effort goes into the development of these devices. However, just not enough people went out and bought Surface tablets at the onset.

According to Panay, the massive write down Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) had to make for the initial Surface line was a humbling experience. He says that it was really a hard time and if he looks back, he is still remembers it as a tough time.

Nonetheless, he says his team never let up and that the self-doubt didn’t creep in. he also says that his team knew what they were building and it was clear what now chief executive Satya Nadella and former chief executive Steve Ballmer wanted then. They also knew that it was going to take time to achieve the product they wanted, he adds.

“Right now we feel pretty good. While that billion-dollar write down will never go away, those lessons learned from it will always be unbelievably valuable. I will tell you, just like the lessons learned when you get a little bit of success in a product, those don’t go away either. That balance of learning has brought us to a point where we feel really good about the next set of products we’re bringing to the world,” Panay tells CNN.

According to the executive, he considers having products that people love as the most important thing. He is also confident that he and his team can get there and develop a product that people will love.

Richard S. Pzena’s Pzena Investment Management owned about 8.45 million Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares by the end of the December quarter. The stake, which made up 2.09% of the whole Pzena Investment Management Portfolio, decreased 17% quarter over quarter.

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